The United States called on Ukraine to stop attacks on Russian refineries – Kommersant

The United States called on Ukraine to stop attacks on Russian energy infrastructure due to fears of rising world oil prices and Russian retaliatory measures, reports Financial Times citing three people familiar with the discussions. Ukraine began large-scale attacks on Russian refineries in March.

The publication’s interlocutors said that repeated warnings from Washington officials were brought to the attention of senior officials of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. According to one of the FT sources, there is growing dissatisfaction in the White House with attacks that Ukrainian drones are carrying out on Russian oil refineries, terminals, warehouses and oil storage facilities located in the west of the country.

The publication notes that this year world oil prices have increased by about 15%, to $85 per barrel. This led to an increase in fuel costs in the United States just at the moment when United States President Joe Biden began his election campaign, FT notes.

In addition, the publication clarifies, Washington is concerned that Russia, in response to Ukraine’s attacks, could affect the volume of oil supplies through the energy infrastructure on which the West relies. We are talking, in particular, about the oil pipeline of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), through which oil from Kazakhstan through the Russian Federation reaches the world market. This oil pipeline is still used by Western companies, including ExxonMobil and Chevron. Russia briefly blocked oil shipments through this CPC in 2022, FT recalled.

A representative of the US National Security Council told the publication that Washington does not encourage Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory. A Ukrainian military intelligence source told the FT that Kyiv has attacked large Russian refineries at least 12 times since 2022. According to him, there have already been at least nine similar attacks this year.

A Ukrainian official told the publication that the goals of the Ukrainian strikes are to complicate the supply of fuel to Russian troops and reduce the ability to finance Russian military capabilities. In addition, the blows have a symbolic meaning. According to the idea of ​​the Ukrainian authorities, they should bring military operations closer to Moscow and show that Russian air defense can be penetrated, FT reports. Some Ukrainian officials also told the publication that the attacks should push the United States to approve military assistance to Ukraine, a bill on which is currently being discussed in Congress.

Russian refineries have been frequently attacked by drones since the beginning of the year. Head of the Russian Ministry of Energy Nikolay Shulginov saidthat the department will maintain plans for the volume of primary oil refining for 2024 at a level close to last year. March 21 Reuters based on data from its sources reportedthat the volume of loading of primary oil processing units at Russian refineries on March 14–20 amounted to 0.687 million tons per day, which is 7.5% less than in the first half of the month.

According to Kommersant sources, in connection with the attacks on refineries, the government proposes to consolidate the priority of transporting fuel by rail compared to other cargo. The Ministry of Energy promises to increase the volume of fuel exports through improved planning, but not to the detriment of other cargo.

Read more in the Kommersant article. “The fuel will still be lucky”.

Erdni Kagaltynov